Sheriff wants cages in cars after inmate assaults deputy, escapes

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TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (May 19, 2015)-- The Tippecanoe County Sheriff tells FOX59 News he wants to make a change in the way inmates are transported after one prisoner assaulted a deputy and escaped in her patrol car.

On Friday, 25-year-old Marcus Bramlett was being transported from a hospital back to the jail. He was sitting in the passenger seat next to the deputy as protocol. That's when he somehow got free, punched her, and took off in the car. He was arrested the next day.

"History will show that minimal incidents have ever occurred," said Sheriff Barry Richard about where the inmates sit in the cars. However, he feels this incident shows that's not the safest way to transport a prisoner.

He wants to add cages to the back of all cars that would be used to move an inmate.

“This situation would not have occurred if he had him put in an area secured cage or a divided area,” he said. “It will eliminate the access from the prisoner to the deputy.”

He said if this one tool was already in place, it would've prevented Bramlett from getting away.

“In this situation, the suspect got freed from a handcuff. That’s as far as he would’ve went. He would’ve still been in a secure area and not had the opportunity to assault the deputy.”

Sheriff Richard told FOX59 he would order the first batch of the 40 total units on Tuesday.